Archive for July, 2009

Our last day full day in Canada was celebrated by a lovely hike up Mt. Fairview from the Chateau Lake Louise. The hike climbs just over 3,400 ft to the summit, over 9 km. We followed the Saddleback Pass Trail to the Pass (at around 7, 700 ft) and then made the final summit bid up scree to the top.

I decided to do the hike in my new VFF (Vibram Five Finger) shoes, it was an experiment in foot dexterity & toughness!

What’s a trip to the Rockies without white water rafting? It had been a very long time since either of us tried it, so we thought, why not! We called up Wild Water and made reservations to do the Whitewater Exciter. We were quite excited to give it a whirl!

The Whitewater Exciter is described as such, on their website: “There are numerous rapids, such as, “Roller Coaster”, “Hopi Hole”, “Goat Rapid” and “Twin Peaks” that are certain to leave you with big smiles. The most famous rapid is known throughout the area . . . the “Portage” and “Shotgun” rapids! (Cue dramatic music!) Long, continuous, quick and tricky, this section of river is, without question, the most popular and memorable section of true class IV to IV+ rafting in the Alberta area.” (more…)

We started off doing a little shopping in Canmore. We stopped at Tin Box; a boutique shop, and also the Canadian equivalent of the dollar store. There was a third store, but I forget the name. It was in half of a person’s house, and contained a bunch of nic nacs with an old west theme.

Then we had lunch at The Grizzly Paw Brewing Company. My favorite part of lunch was the root beer. They make their own from scratch and it is by far the best root beer I’ve tasted! (more…)

After our rest day, we were amped up and ready to climb. We had done Mountain Biking, Hiking, and a scenic drive. Now, we wanted some rock.

Before setting out, we stopped in Canmore at the Rock Shop, Vertical Addiction where we gleaned beta from a super nice dude, Ben. If you climb in the Canmore area, I would highly recommend this shop, the guy there was a great source of information, and ultra friendly!!! (more…)